Mustangs aiming for Sea View title

Dec. 8, 2013

Updated 9:30 p.m.

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Trabuco Hills' Redd Tucker drives past a Capistrano Valley defender in a nonleague varsity boys basketball game at Capistrano Valley on Saturday. Trabuco Hills won, 48-46, to open the season. Tucker is considered one of the Mustangs' primary leaders. PAT CUBEL, FOR THE REGISTER

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Sean Sullens coaches his first regular season game at Trabuco Hills. A 1999 alumnus, Sullens is also a teacher at Trabuco Hills and was previously an assistant coach at Mission Viejo. PAT CUBEL, FOR THE REGISTER

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Trabuco Hills' Aaron Johnson makes a move down the baseline towards the basket in a nonleague boys varsity basketball game at Capistrano Valley on Saturday. Johnson is the Mustangs' top outside shooter. PAT CUBEL, FOR THE REGISTER

Trabuco Hills' Redd Tucker drives past a Capistrano Valley defender in a nonleague varsity boys basketball game at Capistrano Valley on Saturday. Trabuco Hills won, 48-46, to open the season. Tucker is considered one of the Mustangs' primary leaders. PAT CUBEL, FOR THE REGISTER

TRABUCO HILLS BASKETBALL

Coach: Sean Sullens (1st season)

Last season: 13-13, 5-3 in Sea View League; lost in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1AA playoffs

Trabuco Hills boys basketball head coach Sean Sullens has no intention of easing the Mustangs into his first season at the helm.

In the opening week alone, Trabuco Hills faced South Coast League foe Capistrano Valley, then an athletic Temecula Valley squad and the county’s top team, Mater Dei.

“Our goal is to be ready for the last eight games of the season, for the Sea View (League),” Sullens said.

The Mustangs’ upgraded tournament and nonleague slate also includes games against four of the top six teams in the preseason county rankings.

Reflecting on throwing his team immediately into the competitive fire, Sullens brings up Tom Izzo’s Michigan State teams, their frequent success in the NCAA tournament and with their willingness to play big games early in the season.

“I’m not saying we’re Michigan State, what I’m saying is we’ll play anybody early to get us ready for late (in the season),” he said. “Because if you go into league (play) 10-2 and then go 4-4, some people say that’s a successful season. We’d rather go in maybe 9-7 and run off an 8-0 or 7-1, and that’s what we’re looking to do.”

When he was hired, Sullens, a 1999 Trabuco Hills alumnus, said he was coming into a good situation, inheriting an experienced group of players.

Defense “needs to be what we hang our hat on,” Sullens said. And on offense he wants his team to play quickly, reversing the ball and cutting to the basket.

The experienced team is made up almost entirely of seniors, highlighted by center Brandon Fagins, and guards Redd Tucker and Kyle Grepo.

“We work good as a team, we pass the ball around,” Tucker said. “Everybody contributes, everybody knows what they need to do.”

At 6-8, Fagins can alter shots in the paint and give defenders trouble down low.

Fagins also likes to step away from the basket and shoot 3-pointers, sometimes a little more than his coach would like. But when he’s making them, it’s a dangerous weapon, as it was in the season opener when he hit four 3s and led the Mustangs to a win with 21 points.

“He anchors our defense,” Sullens said. “When he’s in and active, you’re only going to score on jump shots on us. So Brandon is the defensive anchor, there’s no doubt about that. … And offensively, when he attacks, when he is going to the basket, we’re tough to beat, we’re really tough to defend.”

Grepo and Tucker are the team’s leaders.

“They’re our two primary ball handlers,” Sullens said. “They’re our two guys that down the stretch we want them at least making the decisions, we don’t necessarily want them taking the shot, but making the decision.”

Tucker, a frantically aggressive driving guard, has benefited from a move out of playing pure point guard and more to the wing.

“Redd has changed his game the most to be a team player out of everybody that we’ve had,” Sullens said. “Redd at times will carry us offensively, but when Redd started making the extra pass and playing defense … that’s when we started to know that, all right, they’re buying into it.”

Scott Majors was named the team’s defensive MVP last season as a junior and Aaron Johnson is the Mustangs’ 3-point sharpshooter.

“We’re pretty deep as a squad,” Fagins said, adding that the Mustangs feel more comfortable going further down the bench than in past years.

After finishing third in the Sea View League last season, the Mustangs know it is still San Clemente’s title to defend with Dana Hills a serious contender, but the players aren’t shy about their lofty goals. The Mustangs want to “go undefeated in league,” Tucker said and “go deep into CIF,” Fagins added.

“We’re motivated, we want it bad,” Tucker said. “This is our last year, our last year together. We want it bad.”

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